It is amazing that in the blink of an eye, the world suddenly became smaller with the start of the pandemic. Since lockdown, companies have been remarkable at pulling together and quickly embracing technology platforms to take the place of physical offices. According to Gallup, 62% of employed Americans are working from home during the crisis. For many companies, the results of working remotely have been better than they could have imagined. Forbes reported that 80% of people truly enjoy working from home, 41% feel more productive than before, while 28% feel they are just as productive. This is our ‘NEW-normal’ – and it has forced us here at Sirius to think through how we office and how we deliver value to our clients.
A couple of weeks ago, we touched on our vision for our offices of the future. Having fully embraced digital spaces, we have both the capabilities and the technologies to serve and collaborate with our clients successfully. Our people are equally adept at fleshing out ideas on a real-life whiteboard as on a digital whiteboard, finding answers to our client’s business challenges in a conference room or via Zoom, and collaborating in each other’s offices or via Teams. Our increased productivity and success during this business shift has certainly been a positive during this pandemic. This positive swing also creates the perfect occasion for us to further develop across our traditional markets and expand our reach into new markets.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has shared data highlighting increased post-pandemic collaboration. Despite the physical distancing and lockdowns, four in five businesses feel closer to their customers, employees, and suppliers according to a survey presented by WEF. Additionally, nine in ten companies were able to provide direct support to businesses they work with. More businesses have survived than initially was expected. A part of this success is due to increased online collaboration and communications platforms. Looking at data from June of this year, use of Microsoft Teams grew by 894% compared with its base usage during mid-February. In the same period, Zoom users grew by 677%. With the rise in use of tools like Teams and Zoom, moving forward, companies can expect increased engagement, teamwork, and collaboration.
Even without the data presented here, most of us know that the future of work includes a combination of digital and physical workplaces. There is nothing ground-breaking in recognizing that. The radical realization for us is that geographical barriers no longer exist in a digital workplace. Though our traditional market for the last few decades has been Texas, we can equally operate in areas outside of Texas. Not only can we operate without barriers, but our ability to deliver value-based consulting remotely is in line with the same high standards we set for our organization from the beginning. Moreover, our competence to deliver is sharpened by our ability to collaborate with our clients virtually in real-time – every day.
At the start of the pandemic back in early March, our Sirius professionals swiftly responded to our increased urgency to be resilient. As a company, we transitioned to remote-officing almost immediately. Within weeks, we were able to get back to work as usual with clients and partners via online meeting and collaboration tools. Within months, our productivity matched and then outpaced our productivity levels prior to the pandemic. Within our organization, we had achieved incredible commitment, progress, productivity, and support from all of our people. As we are gearing up to take on even more, our dedication to delivering Value-Based Consulting has only been bolstered.
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Learn more about post-pandemic organizations:
THE POST COVID ECONOMY
HOW THE COVID PANDEMIC IS FAST TRACKING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Rakhee Das, Technology & Innovation Practice Leader – Sirius Solutions, L.L.L.P.
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